SHAMEFUL!

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 8

Review summary

Our 7 Dec 2023-6 Jan 2024 CELEBRITY cruise had a great itinerary and wonderful staff but, WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT on many levels, especially when CELEBRITY AIR LEFT US STRANDED. So, with almost 20 cruises under our belts, several of them Celebrity, and many more in our future, WE WILL NEVER CRUISE CELEBRITY AGAIN. Here are the details, starting with the positive: The 30 day South American circumnavigation itinerary was outstanding. All except one of the 16 ports provided wonderful experiences, although we had to use non-Celebrity excursions for many of them. The staff was absolutely wonderful in every area of the ship, from bus people to ships officers. They are genuinely good people who are kind, very hard working and truly care about their guests. The “Naturalist” on board our ship is a true gem. His many talks, all on itinerary and world issue related subjects were educational and entertaining with a dash of humor. No wonder Celebrity has retained him for more than a decade. The other entertainment was good but, not great; I rate them a “B”. Unfortunately, all the remaining details are negative, VERY NEGATIVE: We chose Celebrity Air because they promise to take care of you when things go wrong. Our experience was exactly the opposite. Celebrity Air’s carrier cancelled our flight from LAX-SFO, which would have left us stranded in LAX after we’d been traveling for almost 24 hrs. Celebrity Air then refused to pay for an available flight on a different airline because, they said the available flights “are not in our inventory.” Are you kidding me? LEAVING PASSENGERS STRANDED ON THE WAY HOME IS EGREGIOUS AND IRRESPONSIBLE, and Celebrity should be ashamed of this. The other negative aspects of this Celebrity cruise were already enough to prevent us cruising with them again but, this blatant hard heartedness should make every traveller think carefully before cruising with Celebrity. We were late into and out of ports more often than we were on time. Our tender in Cabo was slowest most disorganized I’ve ever seen in multiple cruises to Cabo; so bad that we couldn’t even make it to shore. To make it worse, the ship’s crew wouldn’t say why. Boarding in Valparaiso was also extremely slow and disorganized. Celebrity’s explanation (given a few days later) was that the port changed rules at the last minute. However, Celebrity didn’t do enough to communicate this and respond properly in real time. In contrast, Viking boarded their customers efficiently right next to us. We had WiFi in our package but, it simply wasn’t functional and we had to pay for an upgrade; it was still abysmal! It’s 2024 and Celebrity needs to upgrade their equipment. With the exception of Murano, the food on the ship was mediocre, and the deserts were terrible; over beaten and much too sugary. The wines in the Classic package are barely 2-buck Chuck quality. Come on man, the world is awash in outstanding inexpensive wine; stop trying to squeeze every dollar here and there. Eclipse is at least two years past needing completely refurbished soft goods; they’re past worn and on the edge of tattered. As a fairly experienced cruiser, I would advise anyone considering Celebrity to think very carefully before making that choice.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Huatulco, Mexico

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Manta, Ecuador

Callao (Lima), Peru

Pisco, Peru

Valparaiso (Santiago), Chile

Disembarkation

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